Etymologically
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eruo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈeː.ru.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.ru.o][1]

Forms

ēruō (present infinitive ēruere, perfect active ēruī, supine ērutum); third conjugation[1] Manuscripts also have heruō and, before vowels, erb-.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- (“out”) and ruō.[3][2][1] De Vaan lists it under ⟨ruō⟩ “to dig”, from Proto-Italic *rowe- and Proto-Indo-European *(H)rewH- (“to tear out, dig”), cognate with Lithuanian ráuti (“to tear out, pull”) and Russian рыть (rytʹ, “to dig”); he notes that its derivatives were mixed up with those of ⟨ruō⟩ “to rush”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Cato as its first author,[4] who tells the farmer to rake out the ash from one stoke-hole while the fire burns in the other.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to dig up or pull out by force, of gold and gems, as Ovid's “we dug gold out of the earth instead of crops”, of plants uprooted, as Catullus' oak torn up by a whirlwind, and of eyes torn out.[3][5] Figuratively it is to unearth what is hidden or forgotten, as Cicero's thoughts “dug out of some hiding place”.[3][5] It also means to turn the ground by digging, to churn the sea with oars, and to raze a city, as Virgil's Neptune overturning Troy from its foundations.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “pluck out, tear away” and also “deliver, rescue, save”.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of raking out ash.[3][4][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of rakes that turn the soil.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of unearthing thoughts.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of razing Troy.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To dig up, pluck out; to uproot; to tear out (the eyes).[3][5][1]
  2. (figurative) To Unearth, bring to light, find out.[3][5]
  3. To turn (the ground) by digging; to churn (the sea).[3]
  4. To raze; to destroy utterly.[3][6]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To deliver, rescue.[6]
  • ruō
  • dīruō
  • rutrum
  • effodiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de